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NEW YORK STATE LOCAL HISTORY 
LEAFLETS 



PREPARED BY THE'^DIVISION OF 
ARCHIVES AND HISTORY 



BEDFORD CORNERS, BROOKLYN 

Reprinted from the annual report of the State Historian 



ALBANY 
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
I917 
Y9r-Oi6-sooo 



NOTE 

These leaflets are intended for the boys and 
girls in our New York schools so that they may 
come to know something of the sources of the 
history which they study. It is hoped that the 
teachers, their pupils and others into whose 
hands they come will feel encouraged to make 
suggestions for similar selections, or even them- 
selves prepare material and present it to the 
Division of Archives and History for editing 
and publication. 



Oai^egielnstitntioi* 
of Washington 






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BEDFORD CORNERS 

When we cross the busy thoroughfares at the intersection of 
Bedford avenue and Fulton street, Brooklyn, today, with the honk- 
ing of automobiles on the streets and the thundering of the elevated 
trains overhead, there is nothing to remind us of the historic interest 
of the spot. Yet, here during the Revolution stood the hamlet of 
Bedford and in this vicinity took place some of the important inci- 
dents in the Battle of Long Island in 1776. 

Along what is about the hne of Fulton street today once lay the 
Jamaica road, or, as it was sometimes called, " the king's highway." 
From the ferry over the East river, at the foot of the present Fulton 
street, the road ran to the village of Brooklyn (in the vicinity of the 
present Fulton and Floyt streets), thence to the hamlet of Bedford 
and so on to Jamaica. At Bedford Corners, the Jamaica road was 
intersected by a crossroad. One branch of this latter road, the 
Clove road, stretched in a southerly direction to Flatbush, while 
the other branch, called the Cripplebush road, went in a northerly 
direction to Newtown (maps i and 2). 

The settlement of Bedford seems to have begun in the last years 
of Governor Stuyvesant's administration (1647-64). As early as 
1668 Bedford had an inn. By 1775 Brooklyn " was a pleasant but 
quiet agricultural town, numbering between three and four thou- 
sand inhabitants, who were mostly grouped within three or four 
hamlets or neighborhoods." One of these hamlets was Bedford, 
consisting of some scattered farmhouses with their surrounding 
fields. Not far from Bedford Corners, which was the center of the 
hamlet, some of the incidents which go to make up the Battle of 
Long Island took place. 

Before we can understand these occurrences, we must get an idea 
of the events leading to the battle and of the field on w^iich it was 
fought. Some time after the British were defeated in the vicinity 
of Boston and at Charleston, South Carolina, large numbers of 
their troops were landed on Staten Island with the view of attack- 
ing New York City. Washington, after his success at Boston, had 
come down to New York City, and though his army was far inferior 
in size, discipline and equipment to that of the British, he could not 



give up New York without making great efforts to retain it. The 
heights on the Brooklyn side of the East river were the key to the 
possession of New York; for if the enemy obtained these heights, 
it could easily capture New York. Fortifications stretching from 
Wallabout bay to Gowanus creek were accordingly erected by the 
Americans. The chief work was Fort Putnam, on the site of the 
present Fort Greene Park where today the monument in honor of 
the prison ship martyrs stands. 

The Battle of Long Island, however, did not take place along 
this line of fortifications but farther south along a range of low 
hills where the Americans had estabHshed some outposts. On 
August 22, 1776, the British, under General Howe, landed at 
Gravesend bay without meeting any opposition. They thus took 
possession of the level plain where today is situated south Brooklyn. 
To get at the American fortifications, Howe's army had to penetrate 
the long ridge of hills mentioned above, which extended north- 
easterly from New York bay. These hills were covered with thick 
woods, making a strong defensive position. Three roads ran 
through passes in the hills and thence into the Jamaica road: the 
Gowanus road near the shore, the road from Flatbush, the Clove 
road which branched off from the Flatbush road and, as we have 
noted above, met the Jamaica road at Bedford. Along the wooded 
range of hills, the Americans had about eight hundred men at each 
of the three passes. This was all that could be spared. Far to 
the east lay a fourth pass through the hills, the Jamaica pass, near 
the site of the present Evergreen Cemetery. This pass, because of 
the lack of troops and particularly of cavalry, was almost 
unguarded. General Putnam commanded the main forces of the 
Americans behind the fortifications near the East river, while his 
subordinate, General Sullivan, had chief command of the outposts 
stationed at the three passes. The total of the American army on 
Long Island was about 7000, while the British numbered about 
21,000. Having fixed in your mind the relative position of the 
Jamaica road, the hills south of it, and the roads leading through 
the hills (map 2), you are prepared to understand what occurred 
on August 27, 1776, at the Battle of Long Island. 

The British found out through Tory sympathizers that the 
Jamaica pass, far to the east of the American posts, was not 
guarded. About 9 p. m. of the 26th, about 10,000 men, com- 
manded bv Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis, started from Flatlands 




SIR WILLIAM HOWE 
(1729-1814) 

From an engraving by Corbutt, published in 1778. After the mezzo- 
tint in the Emmet Collection, New York City Public Library. 

He was forty-seven years of age at the time of the episode at 
Bedford Corners and was commander in chief. 



to the south of Flatbush, and making a wide detour, reached the 
Jamaica pass at 3 a. m. of the 27th. The only American soldiers 
in the vicinity were several mounted officers sent out to patrol 
by General Sullivan. These were easily captured. The British 
then gained the Jamaica road, and, after a brief rest for refresh- 
ment, continued on their march to Bedford. The van reached 
Bedford about 8.30 a. m. of the 27th. Thus "this flanking corps 
had succeeded in making a slow, difficult and circuitous march of 
some nine miles from Flatlands during the night and had placed 
itself directly in the rear of the left of the American outposts, 
before its approach was known in the Brooklyn camp." 

Meantime, the American force at Bedford pass, about halfway 
between Bedford and Flatbush, were without suspicion that they 
were trapped. The British now attacked in a southwesterly direc- 
tion from Bedford (map 2). The Americans turned about to meet 
the danger, but they were driven back and forced to flee as best 
they could. Along the Flatbush road, in what is now one corner 
of Prospect Park, General Sullivan's men were caught between two 
fires. The Hessians advanced from Flatbush, while the British 
flanking column threatened the rear. As the " imperilled troops 
hurried down the rough and densely wooded slope of Mount 
Prospect, they were met on the open plain of Bedford by the British 
light infantry and dragoons and hurled back again upon the 
Hessian bayonets. . . ." Sullivan's men were compelled to give 
way, many being killed or captured. This exposed the outposts 
along the Gowanus road to danger. A force of British advancing 
along this road were attacking the Americans there, while their 
rear was threatened by the British coming along the Jamaica road. 
However, through the bravery of Stirling and some of his men, 
most of the American detachment in this part of the battlefield were 
enabled to reach the American fortifications in safety. 

Thus we see that when the British flanking expedition had 
reached Bedford, the Americans were as good as defeated, and that 
of the three scenes of combat which together made up the Battle 
of Long Island, one was located just to the south and west of 
Bedford. 

The story of how Washington skilfully rescued the American 
army after the Battle of Long Island does not belong here. It 
remains, however, to note that during the ensuing years of the war, 
a number of British soldiers were encamped at Bedford. The 



entrance to their camp was situated on what today is Bergen street, 
near Franklin avenue. In excavating the land in this vicinity in 
later times, many relics have been found. The headquarters were 
at the Lefferts House, which stood for many years after at the 
corner of Fulton avenue and Clove road.^ 



1 For books see list in : Channing, Hart and Turner, Guide to the Study 
of American History, p. 305, and more particularly Johnston, H. P., Cam- 
paign of 1776 around Nczu York (Long Island Historical Society, Memoirs,, 
HI; pt 2, documents. Pages 139-206 "The Battle of Long Island"). Stiles, 
H. R., The History of the City of Brooklyn. Field, T. W., Battle of Long 
Island (Long Island Historical Society, Memoirs, II). 







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MAP OF BEDFORD CORNERS IN I'/'J^'/'/ AND I916W— l— -E 

(Based on Stiles, History of Brooklyn, i :266) 5 

The heavy black lines represent the old roads, the dotted lines the 
present streets, and the black iigures the houses in the hamlet. 



Map 2 










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VICINITY OF BEDFORD IN I 776 

After the maps in Stiles, History of the County of Kinus; Johnston, BattJt 
of Long Island; Field, Battle of Long Island. 






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